Friday, August 10, 2012

Bernina 930 fmq - Jesters' Hats

This month's teacher is Wendy Sheppard. Her tutorial is on free motion quilting jesters' hats as a unique filler design. I started doodling jester hats. At first, it was really hard to fill the entire page without getting stuck in the middle somewhere.

Practice, practice and more practice.

Big gaps of empty spaces.

Back to the drawing paper!

Three pointed hats were easier to draw then two.

How about a little loop at the end of the points, would this look like bells? In total I drew 40 pages of jesters' hats before free motion quilting the design.

Starting to get the flow of this, now I'm able to draw the hat in all directions.

This is fun!

In June 2012, I got this email:

Good afternoon! I came across your blog today and saw that you fmq with your 930. I am new to my 930 (LOVE it!), but am not sure of the ins and outs of fmq with it. My machine did not come with any special feet. I would love it if you could explain what foot you use, and what settings you use on the 930 when you fmq. Thank you, in advance, for taking the time to answer my email. I hope I can perfect fmq soon!

Laura

I did my practice piece using my Bernina 930 Record.

The Bernina has a high and low speed. I set it to low speed.

The stitch length (bottom dial) is set to zero.

The feed dogs are dropped.

I started my practice piece with neon orange thread in the top and plain orange in the bottom, only because that was the thread in the machine from my last project. The top thread was Marathon 100% polyester trilobal embroidery thread, I don't know what was in the bobbin. I used a new universal Schmetz 90/14 needle.

My practice sandwich is dark blue denim top side and pieced dark denim with recycled jeans to make the back side the same size as the front. The batting is Warm and Natural cotton.
I used 505 spray glue to baste the sandwich together and then an Avery micro basting gun to tack around the edges.

I always free motion quilt with my needle in the down position. I didn't take a photo of it but every time I re-thread my machine or change the needle I sew a practice scrap of a few inches to ensure the machine is sewing smooth stitches on the top and bottom side.

First pull the bottom thread up to the top side and micro stitch the ends in place.

For me, this design was easier to fill the space completely by starting in a corner rather than the middle of the quilting space.

The little white dots are the plastic tacks from the basting gun.

Free motion quilting making jesters' hats....

this is tons of fun!

Filling in the spaces.

Ooops!! Ran out of bobbin thread.

This is a great time to check the stitch quality on the back side.

Running out of bobbin thread was a bonus, I switched thread colours. Neon yellow in the needle and lime green in the bobbin, both colours are Marathon 100% polyester trilobal embroidery thread.

The join would be less noticeable if I had stuck with the same thread colour.

Look at that pretty thread....I was going for visibility. I think this design would be harder to quilt when the thread matches the fabric.

I use a Bernina number 29 large darning foot.

Back side view.

They say a picture says a thousand words, obviously, I had lots to say about this free motion quilting design. Below is jesters' hats on my free motion challege sample quilt which I blogged about here.

As always your comments are really appreciated. Have a super duper weekend all.

I'm still practicing on paper. This design is difficult! It looks easy but it's not. I'm going to have to eventually get some courage and try it on the machine. I'll keep drawing on paper for a bit! Yours looks good. I hope mine looks half as good as yours!!

Wow -- FORTY pages of doodling? I doodled, but not forty pages' worth. And my sample did not turn out nearly as nicely as yours. I have one of those tacking guns that I used to use for drapery projects; I never thought of using it for quilt basting. Also, you raise a good point about contrasting thread -- I used a variegated thread for my sample that sort of disappeared into my batik fabric, and I had a really difficult time traveling with the design, figuring out where to go next and seeing what I was doing. I think I'll try a bolder contrasting thread color the next time I'm trying to learn a new design.

Veto

Véronique & Scott

Liam - Favourite Grandson

Lily

Lily on a mission..

My Sewing Machines!

I wish my vintage machines could tell their stories of where they have been, what they sewed and how they were loved.

American Home

Introducing Pinky! - Japanese 15 Clone

1910 Bernard Stoewer Treadle

Made in Germany

1940 Singer 15-91 (Pearl)

This machine has a geared driven motor. Sold to Linda in Glenboro April 2015

1960s Imperial - Ruthie

Made in Japan. Ruthie was gifted to an immigrant family in August 2010.

Bernina Nova 900 (Novalee)

Manufactured in Switzerland between 1982-1985. Sold to Marge in Steinbach, Manitoba in February 2012.

1983 Bernina 930 Record

Manufactured in Switzerland

Elna Air Electronic TSP

Manufactured in Switzerland in 1976. This machine was gifted to my niece in September 2010.

1954 Elna Supermatic

Manufactured in Switzerland. This machine was sold to Jeanne In Winnipeg December 2011.

1970s Elna Supermatic (Ella)

Manufactured in Switzerland. Sold to Kristen in Winnipeg in December 2011.

Elna SU 62C

Manufactured in Switzerland. Purchased in July 2013 and sold in August 2013.

1996 Husqvarna 500 (Heidi)

Made in Sweden. I bought it new in 1997 and to this day it is still my favourite machine. Heidi complete with the cabinet she sits on was gifted to Shannon in July 2011.

Husqvarna 530 Lily

Manufactured in Sweden 1997 traded for the 555 in March 2012

Husqvarna Lily 555

Manufactured in Sweden sold to Rosalie in Stonewall May 2015

1979 Husqvarna 6570 (Ruby)

Manufactured in Sweden. Ruby was sold to Sandra in Winnipeg March 2012.

1961 Necchi Lelia 513

Made in Italy - sold to Maria in Winnipeg January 2013

1954 Necchi Mira BU

Manufactured in Italy. Mira was sold to Cindy in Florida in January 2012.

Pfaff 7510 (Phyllis)

Isn't she pretty? Phyllis was sold in June 2011.

Ms. Remington

I'm just tickled pink with her!

Singer Genie 354

Manufactured in France in 1974. Traded in to upgrade embroidery machine in September 2013.

Singer featherweight - Tinkerbell!

A tiny black beauty. Traded in to upgrade embroidery machine in September 2013.

1956 Domestic Automatic (Wilma)

Manufactured in Japan. This machine has a dozen cams to make fancy zig-zag stitches. Wilma was given to my son Jason in August 2013, she lives in Calgary now.

Domestic badge

Fancy sewing machine cabinet

In 1988, I bought this cabinet without a machine for $35. My husband took it apart. It took me four months of evenings and weekends to strip and refinish it. Doug put a shelf in to fit a modern free-arm machine. Since 1997 this cabinet is home to Shannon's Husqvarna 500.

Elna Stella (Stella)

My Wee Sewing Machine made in Switzerland. Stella weighs about 12 pounds. This machine was sold on ebay to a lady in Hawaii.